No Spend January: Week 3

Week #3

We can see the light… Oh wait, that’s just the glow of the Chuck E. Cheese sign.

Yes folks, we are not perfect…we gave in to some fun at Chuck E. Cheese this weekend.

Let me explain Here are my excuses…

We were issued an extreme cold warning this past weekend. We were cooped up indoors for a couple of days and the kids did ok…my husband…not so much.

My yard may look beautiful, but it’s so very cold!

Anyone want to run away on a hot holiday with me?

Daddy Brucks LOVES being around people, large crowds of them in fact. And our little Coco asked his daddy if they could go to chuck e. cheese. I was to have a fun (and free) afternoon with Lulu and her friend E while Daddy Brucks took care of the boys, but I could tell one more day at home was going to be the end of my husband…ever heard of cabin fever?

We looked at the budget and decided that the money saved from not using babysitters this month could be used for Chuck E. Cheese.

Could we have used it for savings? Yes…but losing my husbands sanity wasn’t worth saving thirty bucks. And we had already put aside some extra savings even with last weeks unplanned problems…so off they went!

As for me and the little girls…we had an awesome fun and freeafternoon!

Here’s what we did!

Floral Conservatory!

Free visiting every afternoon!

We decided to get the girls dressed up and go take some fun photos amidst the beautiful backdrop. I am no photographer, but the camera I had makes it pretty easy to get a few great shots!

LuLu and Mama Brucks

The second place we went was the Humane society!

The girls love cats and dogs, so we headed over there to visit with the animals up for adoption. They had a great time learning all their names, and thankfully no one asked if they could take one home…cause I don’t think I could have said no…

I was able to earn a few extra PC Points that day by purchasing groceries for a girlfriendof mine. She gave me the cash to pick up the food and I used my PC card and earned a few points. Always great when you can earn a few bucks by helping others out!

I also received a gift of food from my mom...she asked if I could pick up a few groceries for her while she babysat my kids for me and told me to pick up a few things I needed for my crew. Oranges and muffins it was!

Always great to have a practical gift giving mom!

After getting groceries this week, all those extra errands, and the gas purchases throughout the week, I went from 1600 PC points to over 20,000!I earned another $20 bucks in PC points in one week! That’s $60 bucksjust this month! Crazy right!

Menu Plan Week 3

Here are some of the recipes I used:

Cheese Quesidillas– Make Basic Tortillas. Shred cheddar cheese and place between two tortillas. Place on baking sheet in 350 Degree oven. Watch closely as the cheese will melt at different rates depending on thickness of tortillas and the amount of cheese you’ve used.

Chicken Taco Night. – Basic Tortillas again! Salsa, Shredded Cheese and Sour Cream for toppings. Shredded Chicken cooked in Taco seasoning according to package directions. The shredded chicken was from Week #1’s roast chicken leftovers. We froze the shredded chicken to be used at a later day! Today was that day!

Meatballs and Spaghetti Night– Meatballs were on sale so we just bought a box and used KuKu Grandma’s sweet and sour sauce recipe…sorry folks but that one’s a secret!!

Frozen Soup– I made a chicken and rice soup with the roast chicken carcass from Week #1 and added some frozen veggies and rice!

Honey Ham– Just as basic as it sounds…The ham was on sale, so we bought one and ate it as is!

Hawaiian Pizza- Pizza Crust homemade with pieces of ham from last nights supper. Bought a can of pineapple chunks and made some pizza sauce! Voila!

My Groceries:

Goal $136.25

I totally forgot coffee..so add another 17 bucks to this…in other words..we used up the budget..but buying cheaper coffee was killing my morning groove…

Total $136.90!

Daddy Brucks has been a trooper through all of this, and he hasn’t complained onceabout the cheaper brand coffee...until Idid that is..it was awful…I just cannot justify buying cheap coffee anymore…we look forward to that morning moment and Starbucks is the only way I can get it…so crazy coffee prices it is…but hey…at least we were brewing it ourselves!

Daddy Brucks has also been taking a lunch as often as he can which has helped out tremendously! Thank you for all those sacrifices hubby!

Update:We ended up battling the flu in our home come wednesday afternoon and boy was I glad I had made DIY Disinfecting wipes!I didn’t have the money in the budget to purchase any and a friend had posted about a DIY she had done. Talk about perfect timing!

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21 thoughts on “No Spend January: Week 3”

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Thanks for sharing some thrifty tips! With this cold weather, I’ve splurged on groceries to stock up on essentials… But it’s going to be worth it! Looks like you’re doing things right… Rewarding yourselves for good spending habits.

It’s been an eye opener for sure! And we are going to have to do a stock up next month as well as January has depleted our stock…but I have been searching prices and think I can get all my extra essentials for only $100…maybe a few dollars more than that, but close!

You are doing great.. and I love how you are keeping it real!!! I think it is great that you let your hubby enjoy Chuck E Cheese with the kids.. and that you realized that cheap coffee wasn’t worth the savings! (I’ve made that mistake before! ha!)

Sounds like you had another great week. My husband is the same way, and would have wanted to get out and get social too. I love those DIY wipes and will have to try. We go through wipes like crazy around here with three boys.